It was a great honour for him to receive Giuseppe Conte in the White House. Other European countries should take an example of Italy, the US president said.

US president Donald Trump praised Italian prime Minister Giuseppe Conte for his controversial immigration policy. He very much agrees with what Conte is doing in terms of migration and illegal and legal immigration, Trump said at a meeting with Conte at White House. He was a "great honour" to receive Conte, who did a "fantastic job".

"Honestly, I think you're doing right thing," said US president. "Many or countries in Europe should do that too." In past, Trump had repeatedly criticised Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) for her refugee policy, which Trump considered to be too liberal.

Trump and Conte follow a similarly tough course on immigration. Under Trump, US has made immigration massively difficult. Most recently, Republican state was mainly due to separation of families from criticism that had come illegally across border with Mexico to US.

The refugee policy of new government in Rome and especially right interior Minister Matteo Salvini is also controversial. In order to increase pressure on or EU countries, government has repeatedly banned ships with rescued migrants in Italy in recent weeks.

Both Conte and Trump also promote better relations with Russia. At G7 summit in Canada, Italian head of government was only one to have joined US president's demand for a resumption of Russia in group of leading industrial nations.